Kathleen Avins
Crafting a life of art and heart.
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2/28/2014 1 Comment

The world needs cool grownups.

When I was eighteen and going off to college,  my kid sister said to me,  "Just promise me you'll never grow up."

And I promised.

About eighteen years after that, while in the midst of juggling graduate studies, clinical work, family and creative projects, I gave my sister a call. I told her,  "I think I need you to release me from that promise. "

And she did.

Even so, there are times when I don't quite believe that I know how to be a grownup.  There are even times when just trying to be one feels scary.

Everyone else knows how to...Everyone else knows all about...Everyone else understands...

Deep down, though, I know I'm not the only one who feels like a little kid in grownup clothing.

What are we afraid of?  Failure?  Success?  Becoming a stranger to ourselves?  Being forced to abandon the secret,  semi-conscious wish for someone, someday, to rescue us and take care of us forever?

A few years ago, I was teaching a group of college students who were on the brink of completing their training and earning their degrees. I told them,  gently, that they might find that the time had come to grow up.

They winced.

And I heard myself saying, "It's okay. You can be a cool grownup. The world needs cool grownups."

The world does need cool grownups.

They exist. I know lots of them. Uncles, aunts, teachers,  friends.

I probably even am one.  Sometimes, at least. When I remember.

What's a little harder to remember, at least for me, is that I can feel confused and incompetent and still be a cool grownup.  Furthermore, I can feel independent and competent and still be a cool grownup.

The world needs cool grownups. The world needs us.
1 Comment
Karen J link
4/1/2014 10:37:36 am

HooRay! for more cool grownups!

{followed you home from havi's - }

Bright blessings, Kathleen!

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    I'm Kathleen Avins, a music therapist and an artist.

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